The speed limit on Crabtree Creek Road and North Fork Road in eastern Clay County will be dropped from 55 to 25 miles per hour following Commissioner approval Tuesday.
The two roads are in Commissioner Jeff Gentry’s district. Gentry said the roads are wide one-lane roads, and Crabtree Creek turns into North Fork. Gentry said the change was made because in the past, there was no posted speed limit on either road.
“There’s probably seven to eight houses back there, is all it is, on the whole road” Gentry said, “We’ve had some complaints, so we went ahead and changed it to, you know, changed the speed limit. It’s assumed it’s 55 if it’s not a speed limit on it, so we changed it to 25 so that way it is posted now.”
Gentry said there is a concern about speeding. Gentry said both the Sheriff’s office and Mayor Dale Reagan have gotten complaints about the road.
Gentry said the stretch of road is short, but the narrow and curvy nature of those roads make them dangerous when driving fast. Gentry said some people may have wanted the speed limits lower than 25, but that number will do for now.
Gentry said the County Commission has the authority to change the speed limit on any county road, but there is a process required to do so.
“We usually get with our Sheriff and our road commissioner, since he’s the one that puts out the signs,” Gentry said. “And we look at it in our district, most of us do, and we make sure that it’s appropriate.”
Gentry said he has been on the road several times and is familiar with it, and the change makes driving on it safer. Gentry said there has not been a major concern about accidents on those roads/
Gentry said posting speed limit signage on county roads will give people a better idea of how to drive on them. Although the speed limit on roads without a posted number is 55 miles per hour, Gentry said people tend to speed more if there is no sign saying otherwise.
“It’s just out in the country, so we just put a speed limit on it” Gentry said. “We try to put a speed limit on all county roads, and we’re slowly getting to them as they come up.”
Gentry said the road secretary will likely have signs up and posted within a couple weeks since the change was made official at Tuesday’s meeting.
In other business, the Clay County Commissioners approved Mayor Dale Reagan as Chairman and Commissioner Bryan Coons as Pro Temp. Cassie Haney was re-appointed as Judicial Commissioner, as she was the only applicant.
The Commissioners approved the appointment of committee and board members.
